Nuclear anxiety in film

The aim of the paper is to discuss the issue around nuclear war and film. During the end of world war 2 Hollywood began to produce a streamline of films, which anticipated the coming of a third world war (Nuclear War). Films such as Dr. Strangelove, When the Wind Blows, Dreams, The Day after, War Games, On The Beach etc. What I will be studying is how these films tend to fall into 3 particular categories. Thefirst category deals with "The preparation for a supposed Nuclear attack or war." We will be looking at the film War Games directed by John Badham as our case study. The second category concerns the experiences of a nuclear war. We will be looking at the film When the Wind Blows directed by Jimmy T. Murakami. The third category deals with the aftermath and what happens long after a nuclear war. For this we shall be using the Japanese director Akira Kurosawa's film Dreams as our case study. All in all what I will be aiming to discover in these films is how atomic bomb victims are treated within motion picture before during and after the catastrophe. How is the subject of nuclear warfare treated within motion pictures and eventually how do the Hollywood nuclear motion pictures differ to that of the Japanese. When watching the three films I was intrigued by the issue concerning trauma and how it links to the idea of repression within film. All the films I am using in my case study are bombarded with images of trauma and death. It is a talk on what the apocalypse might mean to us and it questions whether we are really prepared for such an event. Even if we were would we be able to resist. When I mention repression I mention it in terms of the fact that in viewing these films we are able to see that victims often tend to ignore the subject of nuclear war. It is often repressed within the society yet the knowledge of it is constantly being spoken of. When watching "When the wind blows" I was also…